A recent California State Auditor’s report documented a shocking lack of transparency, accountability, oversight and data security in CalGang, the database of (supposedly) known gang members maintained by the Department of Justice and used by law enforcement agencies throughout the state. Even more damning, the State Auditor questioned the accuracy of the database and the lack of documentation for many of those included on the list.

The Auditor found that agencies “lacked adequate support for 13 of 100 people we reviewed in CalGang and for 131 of 563 (23 percent) of the CalGang criteria entries we reviewed.” The database sample included 42 individuals who were supposedly under the age of one when the data was entered – including 28 added for “admitting to being gang members” – likely the result of data entry error.

A person can be added to the CalGang database for nebulous and questionable reasons, including being seen with gang members or wearing “gang dress,” the second- and fourth-most common reasons for being included in the database, respectively. As noted in a recent VoiceofSanDiego.org piece, “In a gang-heavy neighborhood, that could include simply talking to a neighbor and wearing a red shirt.”

Though CalGang claims to abide by federal regulations and state standards for ensuring accuracy and protecting privacy rights, the Auditor found little evidence that it actually does so in practice. “As a result, user agencies are tracking some people in CalGang without adequate justification, potentially violating their privacy rights,” State Auditor Elaine M. Howle wrote in an introductory letter to the governor and legislative leaders. “Further, by not reviewing information as required, CalGang’s governance and user agencies have diminished the system’s crime-fighting value.”

So here we have a database that not only violates many people’s constitutional rights, but is impeding its intended function due to its inaccuracy and lack of oversight. This makes it the latest in a long line of government “watch lists” with similar problems.

Multiple state audits have likewise said that the Armed and Prohibited Persons System, designed to help get guns out of the hands of those adjudicated by a court or mental health system to be ineligible to possess firearms, suffers from failing to identify many people who should be on the list and erroneously including others who have every right to own guns. Gun Owners of California has cited a sheriff who reported that the system has an error rate of 40 percent to 60 percent, resulting in numerous needless gun seizures and violations of people’s Second Amendment rights.

And the “no-fly” terrorist watch list is notorious for sweeping up a lot of innocent people, including small children, veterans, journalists and politicians, due to clerical errors or because they had names similar to others considered to be a threat.

The CalGang audit has raised calls for reform in Sacramento, but it seems that government watch lists are inherently rife with inaccuracies that violate individuals’ rights and diminish their effectiveness. Reform sounds great, but we must seriously ask whether the actual benefit of any such database outweighs these significant flaws.